17 Nannies Whose Work Day Ended in a Massive Plot Twist

Some folks imagine a nanny’s job is all routine stuff. Feed the kids, read a bedtime story, tuck them in, repeat. Sounds simple, right? Well, not quite. The amazing women we talked to shared their wildest, weirdest, and most heartwarming moments on the job. After hearing their stories, we’ll never call this profession boring again.

• I was a nanny for a family in Southern California for 2.5 years, who both worked fairly prominent jobs (the husband was an investor in hospitality, and the wife owned several boutiques). They had 3 kids and had a charming house in a beach town. Everything was fairly normal, but they owned upwards of 1000+ sets of salt and pepper shakers.
  The family itself was wonderful, and I know people collect these things, but I just didn’t get it. It’s not like they were packed away, they were on display nearly everywhere. I asked when I went over for the initial interview if it was a family tradition passed down for generations or something, and the wife told me they had just started collecting a year or two before I started... © Unknown author / Reddit
• I was working as a nanny, and the children’s mother once told me, “My husband doesn’t think we should pay you for when the girls are sleeping...” They were 4 months and 2 years old.
  I was a junior in high school and responded, “Okay, so should I duck out once I tuck them in?” I wouldn’t have done that, but I think at that point she realized how ridiculous her request was.
  © reckate / Reddit
• I had to change the kids’ cloth diaper every 2 hours on the dot. The kid was 6. I assumed it was for some sort of disability or something, but no. His parents just didn’t want to potty-train him, and the kid was content with being babied. I remember just making the kid put his own diaper on and encouraged him to use the bathroom if he had to go. I never went back. © Drsweet*** / Reddit

• So, it is that time of the month for me. I go into the bathroom, and while unwrapping a feminine hygiene product, the kid yells from outside the door, “I can hear you eating candy in there!” It made my day, and made me wish that I was really eating candy. © HalleysComet5 / Reddit
• I had to put the kids to sleep with the CD player going. That wasn’t the weird part.
  It was a recording of their parents basically going, “Molly, you are wonderful. You are a star. You’re going to shine bright.” That isn’t super weird... But it was like several hours long, and apparently they listened to it every night. © optimuspaige91 / Reddit
• I’m not a nanny, but I’ve been babysitting a girl on and off from when she was 5 to 7 now.
  Her: What is that?
  Me: Pineapple
  Her: Oh, I’ve never had pineapple.
  Me: Do you want to try it?
  She does this about everything, too. I asked her mom if she had ever had pineapple, and she was like of course she has! Then I realized she’s just trying to eat my food. © Kacidillaa / Reddit

• My worst moment happened about 5 years ago, a couple of years into my nanny career. I was watching 2 little guys who I had every weekend. They were eating snack happily. The toddler was eating goldfish crackers (a toddler staple), nicely putting one in his mouth at a time, just like we’d taught him.
  I turned my back to wash a dish and suddenly heard nothing. He was quiet, the kind of silence toddlers just can’t do. I whipped around to see a choking child. My mind froze, but my body sprung into action. I quickly felt and listened for breathing, there was none.
  I gave him quick pats on the back, nothing. Then I pulled him out of his seat and performed the Heimlich Maneuver. I even managed to aim him over the sink. His throat full of crackers flew out, and he cried for a minute. Then he looked up at me and said, “More fishies?” © Unknown author / Reddit
• They were 8/9ish, boy and girl, generally bratty, but I thought I could handle them. We were playing a game of hide and seek in the house. I was hiding in a tiny closet and the kids locked me in there. I yelled, screamed, begged, and all they did was giggle. I was locked in there for 3 hours before their parents came home and let me out. By that time I was crying and had peed myself, not my proudest moment. I quit on the spot.
  To this day, I still won’t babysit or nanny older children. Generally, once they’re potty-trained or start school, I’m out. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I babysat these two WILD boys that lived across the street when I was young, maybe 14. They were never disciplined and incredibly hyper. The youngest one, maybe 4 at the time, swiped a pencil from a drawer and stabbed me in the forehead above my eye with it HARD. The lead broke off under the skin, and I couldn’t get it out. It ended up getting infected and becoming extremely painful. I ended up having to have surgery and still have a scar from it. The kids’ parents paid the medical bills, but never apologized. She just basically said that boys will be boys.
  © rachfitz / Reddit

• I brought the 16-month-old kid I was babysitting to an overgrown community garden in his neighborhood, where we often went for his daily nap and a bit of wholesome playtime. He had knocked over a flower pot, and while I was cleaning up, he completely disappeared. At the time, he wasn’t a fast mover, but the garden was surrounded by fairly busy streets, and he had recently been distraught that I didn’t let him run into an intersection to pick up a rock he liked.
  I panicked and scoured the garden to find him chasing a butterfly in a patch of tomatoes. He still calls me “Butterfly Lady!” and his parents have no idea why. © Unknown author / Reddit
• When I was about 14 some friends of my parents asked me to babysit their 9 or 10 son, who wanted a boy babysitter. When I got to their house, the mom told me that her son loved poached eggs and asked me to make him a poached egg on toast for dinner. She quickly explained to me how to make it as if it were something really simple and easy.
  Later that night, after wasting half their eggs in a hopeless effort to make a poached egg, I asked the kid if he liked scrambled eggs. He said he loved scrambled eggs and ate them without complaint. When the parents came home, I apologized for using up their eggs. They laughed and seemed to appreciate the effort, although the mom explained it again and insisted that it was really simple. I’m almost 40 now and I still suck at making poached eggs, and it cracks me up that the mom thought a 14-year-old should be able to whip one up based on a few instructions. On the other hand, as a parent, I appreciate the hell out of that kid. © Delmarvalous / Reddit
• So the father of the kid works for a major athletic apparel company, and every year they need to test the upcoming year’s potential pieces. To do that, the company sends one of every potential piece to all female employees and female spouses.
  Well, the mother is pregnant right now and can’t fit into any of the items, so the father made me a cup of tea and asked me to sit down in the living room (what he does whenever he wants to talk to me about something) and says, “I know we’re not paying you to do this, but would you be willing to test all the sample pieces my company sent me? You can keep them afterward.”
  Yes! Y’all, no kidding, he just handed me 6 boxes of athletic clothing that has to total thousands of dollars. © pineappleprincesspie / Reddit

• Years ago, I was a nanny and the mom told me that they didn’t use the word no. Instead, to “redirect” the child when they were doing things that “weren’t nice”. Basically, think of PC Principal’s mom and you’ve got my former boss. Couldn’t say the kid was doing something “bad” etc. As most parents and babysitters can imagine, he wasn’t a calm boy.
  The day I quit was when he took a knife off the counter and tried to hurt me with it. For his safety and mine, I grabbed it away in which set off the fakest and most spoiled tears you’ve ever heard. I explained to my boss that I could no longer watch the child because “redirecting” him to calmly lay down the steak knife was a job for a police officer and a hostage situation, not a minimum-wage college student. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I had a phone interview with a mom that went really well, so we met in person for a second interview with her husband and 4 children. It went well until she explained her nanny was fired for having an affair with her husband and how their new nanny needed better morals and to limit her interaction with her husband (who was sitting there the whole time with us).
  I’ve never felt more awkward in my whole life as she told me that I’m pretty but thankfully not his type as he just nodded his head. I just find it irritating how it’s the nanny’s fault when her husband also had the affair, and how the nanny needs morals when her husband clearly doesn’t. So yeah, definitely not accepting this job! © thisisdevon- / Reddit
• The family where I babysat has a tiny poodle/yorkie mix who the mother despises. The dog is very well-behaved, she’s just never been one for animals. The puppy was the dad’s prior to them ever getting together.
  They have these 2 fluffy pillows on their couch, and while the parents are away, the dog likes to sleep on them. It leaves a distinct dent in their otherwise perfect fluff. The mother will scold the puppy, and he just looks so sad and heartbroken.
  So every day I quickly hurry downstairs before the mother gets home, refluff the pillows, and go back upstairs. The puppy has not been scolded in months. That’s my confession. And I don’t regret it. © nannybabywhisperer / Reddit

• I worked for a couple with 3 kids. It had just been over a month, and they seemed fine, if a tad eccentric. One night, after putting them to bed, I heard noises coming from the basement. This was strange, as I had been told the basement was completely empty.
  I had been told NEVER to go there, but I was freaked out, so I crept downstairs. When I opened the door, I was shocked to see the parents there, given they had gone out for dinner. They were in their Pajamas, eating snacks, and playing video games. Later, they told me that this was their way of unwinding, and not letting the children see their unhealthy habits. They didn’t tell me because they didn’t want me to lie to the kids. We had a good laugh about it, and I stayed on for two years, before they moved to another place. We still keep in touch.
• I was hired by a French couple because I was very fluent. They had four children, two boys aged 12 and 7, and two girls, aged 9 and 4. They informed me that the kids only spoke French. If I ever spoke English to them, they stared at me, blankly. So clearly, I only spoke in French, which was no issue for me.
  After a month or so, the littlest girl came to me, smiled and whispered in my ear, in perfect English, “I really hate French.” Well, duh! I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so I continued like nothing had happened, but now and then, I’d speak in English with her. Eventually, I got bored with the subterfuge and quit, opting for a nice family who had no problems with me speaking in English.

If you’ve had your fill of nanny stories, here are some amusing anecdotes of fatherhood moments gone wrong!